Gift for some_stars by eruthros (Syberia series)

[fv_poster]

Title of vid: Dolores
Recipient: some_stars
Vidder: eruthros
Fandom: Syberia series
Music: Dolores by Amelia
Summary: That's all for now, Dolores.
Content notes: No standardized notes apply
Signed length: 03:15
Signed URL:

Link to signed vid

Lyrics
The camera froze the angle of bone
The rings of hair that hung at her cheeks
A porcelain bride, groom at her side
Done and gone and hung up on the mantle to keep

The sweaters and socks are piled in a box
And over by the rotary phone
A paper with all the numbers to call
They said they rang the line but there was nobody home

That's all for now, Dolores
The days have moved along
You'd like to see those colorful leaves
That fell all over the lawn
The birds are carrying songs

A curious scene you'd never believe
Unless you're keeping eyes on us all
The scavengers pry the lid from your life
The pieces of the past and all the secrets are lost

That's all for now, Dolores
The days have moved along
You'd like to see those colorful leaves
That fell all over the lawn
The birds are carrying songs

Comments

[some_stars]

oh my GOD this is so amazing this is the best thing that's ever happened to me I never ever dreamed I'd get a syberia vid AND IT'S SO GOOD. proper fb when i get back to a real computer but i cannot contain my joy for even one second longer. THANK YOU FOREVER

[some_stars]

okay. okay let's do this. i'm going in.

so first of all: the music. the music is PERFECT. i love how it starts with that heavy beat synced to the automatons, i love how it shifts between dreaminess and urgency, i love how EERIE it is.

other things i love: how you start by drawing kate into the more intimate story of anna and hans, slowly entangling her in that personal history and then blooming outward to encompass the vast sweep of the game's historical vision and the dreamy prehistory/timelessness of the mammoths, and the sense of travel, the train montage and the birds--the birds are carrying songs, so so so perfect--but it always comes back to kate, her journey and her witness and her wonder. because it's not about mammoths, and it's not about hans, and in a way it's not even about history (although as evident from my overenthusiastic dear-festividder letter, i'm really excited about the ways in which it IS about history). ultimately, it's a story about kate and the choices she makes. and so is this vid. and so it is perfect.

(AND OSCAR OMG OSCAR TEN MILLION TEARS. i will never stop crying over oscar. and it was just right here, exactly the right way to use that moment.)

[some_stars]

Every time I come back and this doesn't have fifty comments I just want to leave more feedback myself. SO.

Something that's struck me after watching it another dozen times or so is the contrast between the verses as you use them here. In the song without the context of the vid, they all seem to be a single continuous narrative about a single person, personal history, but here you start with that meaning in the first verse and then it changes. The second verse--I LOVE "sweaters and socks," our first glimpse of the ruined, left-behind world east of Valadilene, and the rest of that verse--Helena, who is in her own way one of the abandoned ruins of 20th century history, and the automatons outside the university--and "nobody home" is SO perfect for Barrockstadt, because it's actually more full of NPCs than any other setting in the game after Valadilene, but they're all so closed off and deliberately ignoring the real world that's left them behind.

And then in the third verse it becomes personal again, but it's Kate now, Kate in the present--"the scavengers pry the lid from your life" as she watches Oscar die, and that wonderful sense of ambivalence watching Hans lowered into Oscar's frame, where we as the player are horrified and resent him not just for killing Oscar now but for designing him to be killed. The loss becomes personal again, even as the song mentions "the pieces of the past" because it's now Kate and Oscar's personal history that's being lost.

This whole progression connects to the tension in the vid and the lyrics about who "Delores" is--the vid clearly identifies her with Kate, but there's this sense of...competition, almost, between Kate and Hans for the status of protagonist. Because the "you" in "you'd like to see the colorful leaves"--in one sense it's Hans; his desire to find the mammoths (that represent his own lost, traumatic childhood, as well as a more general sense of a pre-history golden age) is what drives the story, at least within the universe of the story. But for the player, it's Kate's desire to see everything that drives the story. The mammoths, the automatons, the vast sweep of Eastern European history crumbling away but still unexpectedly vibrant in the midst of all the decay, just everything, whatever the next stop is, wherever the next boat takes her.

The instrumental section is a glorious transition, beginning with the old railroad that so perfectly represents the story's broader, public sense of history and loss, and following Kate's journey further and further into the wilderness of the snow and the birds, and of course that AMAZING part where the owl's eye turns into her eye and she wakes up alarmed, and the dreaminess of the journey shifts back to the reality of the automatons and Oscar.

ANYWAY. That's all I have at the moment; in a few days I'll probably think of more stuff to go on about because I love this vid so much forever and ever and ever.

[cupidsbow]

This is so visually striking. I love the creepiness of all the figurines.

[chagrined]

i really like this. the song choice and editing are great, and the visuals are so atmospheric and mysterious. i haven't played this game, but this makes me want to. especially loved all the mammoth parts (haha i know there were a lot) and the overlays with birds/owls to "birds are carrying songs."

[echan]

The world and the tone and the feel of everything was so clear and poignant, despite my complete lack of knowledge of the game. You did great work!

[sanguinity]

This was a treat to watch.

[chaila]

I know nothing about this source, but this is really beautiful! Right from the beginning, I was so drawn in by the unusual, striking visuals. I love the overlays and the musicality is so good.

[metatxt]

Oooh this is really lovely and beautifully edited!

[goodbyebird]

This was amazing, and I don't even know the source. Wow.

[ghost_lingering]

This is absolutely gorgeous! I will definitely be rewatching.

[kuwdora]

This is absolutely stunning and the song choice was really amazing. I was hooked all the way through her journey! (were those mammoths??!)

[sasha_feather]

What an interesting and beautiful vid! Just lovely.

[credoimprobus]

Aaah, this is so beautiful and wistful, and just pulled me along. (And made me think I really need to play more than just the demo some day, heh.)

[franzeska]

Wow. I love the timing, especially the automatons with the umbrellas at the beginning. I've always been curious about this series, but it's not av... hey, it totally is available for mac! When did that happen?

[restfield]

I can't even imagine more perfect "Syberia" vid, you captured everything that I love about it. Can I hug you?

[deirdre_c]

Wonderful!

[cryptolect]

O goodness. Where to start, where to stop.
1) I just finished playing these so I'm really grateful that you made this vid for me! (haha no I know)
2) The song is the most perfect choice that is incredible it's right in every way
3) The song is also the first new to me song I found from this year's FV so thx
4) You have absolutely captured the eccentric, bitter-sweet essence of syberia and everything that is good about it
5) Crying? I'm not crying you're crying
6) I have watched some vids I really enjoyed in FV14 but this one wins!!
7) Er... that's it

[felis]

Don't know the source, but this was intriguing and beautiful, and I loved the pace of it. Travels and dreams. The owl in flight on the instrumental bridge and the cut back to the protagonist was wonderful.

[starlady]

A really lovely vid.